ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: Machine Discipline and Technological Change:
Author: LATSIS John Spiro
Recently, social scientists have focused considerable attention on technology, often funded through governments that perceive a link to growth and increased prosperity. In spite of his prolific contributions on the subject of technology, the work of Thorstein Veblen has not featured prominently in this new technology research. At the same time, modern Veblen scholars have tended to focus on historical and philosophical aspects of his work at the expense of developing his evolutionary research programme. This situation presents a puzzle to historians of economic thought: why did Veblen’s theory fail to generate a significant research programme in the social sciences? In this article, I present an outline of Veblen’s evolutionary theory, its historical and theoretical context, and Veblen’s motivations for attempting to revolutionise the social sciences. I go on to describe two problems that have plagued the Veblenian approach from its inception. The final part of the article suggests a possible route that would lead to the rediscovery of Veblen’s theory and its redeployment outside of economics in the field of technology studies.
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